By Brian Murphy
bmurphy@idahostatesman.com
Boise State President Bob Kustra met with Big East Commissioner John Marinatto in Boise on Thursday, the second meeting between the school and the conference in less than a week. Kustra met with Big East officials in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.
Marinatto and Senior Associate Commissioner Nick Carparelli met with Kustra and other Boise State officials in Boise for about two hours. A school spokesman declined to specify which other officials were there or if football coach Chris Petersen attended the meetings.
No invitation to the Big East was offered at the meeting, the spokesman said.
“We had an informative meeting today with officials from the Big East Conference. Commissioner John Marinatto made a presentation regarding possible ideas for conference expansion and what role Boise State could potentially play in those plans. We appreciate the outreach on the part of the Big East Conference and will continue our due diligence in this matter," Kustra said in a statement released by the school Thursday afternoon.
“As we have indicated consistently, we will take our time in evaluating conference affiliation options and we will make an informed decision representing the best interests of the university. Boise State is a quality institution with an elite football program and a significant national brand identity. As a result, we are an extremely valuable partner when it comes to conference affiliation."
Marinatto met with Air Force officials, including football coach Troy Calhoun on Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The rebuilding Big East reportedly plans to add Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only member and Central Florida, Houston and SMU as full members in order to get to 12 football-playing schools and attempt to retain its BCS automatic-qualification status after the losses of longtime members Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast Conference. TCU, which was poised to join the Big East next year, will instead join the Big 12.
The Big East could soon lose another member as West Virginia or Louisville are positioned to be added to the Big 12.
Big East football-playing schools moving forward: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida and West Virginia.
Current Big East non-football playing schools: DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova.
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Just say NO!
I just don't see this as a very good fit for Boise for several reasons.
1. The biggest reason is there is a huge gap in cultures. Boise will be dictated to by a bunch of eastern BB schools - not good.
2. In the end, the Big East conference will continue to lose more current schools. It's been very public that 5 of the 6 remaining schools want out (WV & Louisville to the B12, UConn & USF to the ACC, Rutgers to the Big 10 or ACC). Conference consolidation is not done. In the next 2 years, you will probably see at least 3 of these teams gone. When that happens, this league will be 80% western teams run by a bunch of eastern BB schools.
3. Sending the non-football sports back to the WAC, Big West or Big Sky is a definate downgrade.
4. BSU won't go in 2012 because the buyout would be around $21M. The soonest they would go is for the 2013 season. With that said, they would only have one year as an AQ school. When the BE loses more eastern schools, they will also lose their AQ status.
It's obvious this is nothing more than a big power struggle. The BE BB schools & Marinatto wants to keep control so they are trying to suck in Boise & others to keep in power. What they are doing has nothing to do with what's best for BSU or college football, it's all about how they can keep the power & make millions while they are at it.
Kustra - you need to run away from this as fast as possible.
By them making millions
BSU will be making millions. The MWC would be idiotic if it didn't take Boise State back if the BE implodes. They would have zero chance of an AQ if BSU, UCF, Houston, SMU and Air Force all left. I for one would be devastated if BSU stayed in the MWC and continued to struggle financially to stick with these big programs. I do feel bad for the basketball team and all the other sports as they are being held hostage by the football team, but unfortunately they don't bring the money that football does and don't have much of a say. If the BSU basketball team was beating down the door every year like the football team, you would have to rethink.
I don't think so......
1st - the Big LEast TV contract will be renegotiated with the loss of key schools. Their new contract will be about the same as the MWC.
2nd - when they lose their BCS AQ status (not if, just when), the BCS money will go away as well.
3rd - Boise won't get any of the BE BB money since they will be football only.
Don't fool yourself - the money we would get won't me much different than what we get now. We will only benefit one year - 2013.
New Plan
What really needs to happen is for BSU to get together with some other key schools and BYU/ESPN and start a new conference. They could take the best 12 schools from all of the conferences. This would totally KILL the Big LEast and be in a position for AQ status in 2014. Just think.........
West:
Boise
San Diego
BYU
Air Force
Houston
SMU
East:
Rutgers
Cincinatti
UConn
Navy
USF
Louisville (when they leave, invite UCF or ECU)
They would have 8 conference games (5 in division & 3 of the other division) each year followed by a conference championship. As for bowl games, they would be able to get the H-Bowl & very possibly others (those connected with the BE)b. This would end the BE in football (they would become a BB league) plus this new conference would have strong non-football sports. As for money, between ESPN & the BYU network, would be able to get a better TV contract than the BE & MWC/CUSA.
sounds good
Talk too Bob and then for the approval State Board of Education
What?
To suggest that the Big East TV contract will be renegotiated to the level that the MWC TV contract is at is delusional. Do a quick comparison of TV markets owned by each conference.
You're also forgetting that the current Mountain West TV contract was negotiated when TCU, Utah, and BYU were in the conference. What kind of money do you think we can pull now that we're replacing the Dallas/Fort Worth and Salt Lake City markets with Reno and Honolulu?
New York City, Cincinnati, and Tampa versus Las Vegas, San Diego, and Fresno? Do the math.
Annual TV revenue in the Big East (even after WV and/or Louisville leave and they renegotiate the contract) will be significantly higher than the Mountain West.
Nobody gives a crap when you can't afford cable...
You folks are on SOS crack....
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Presuming a lot
For example, Kustra not insisting on a buy-out waiver if the conference loses its AQ status. Also the idea that BSU will have *nowhere* to go if the BE crumbles. Please... in the middle of a true Big East melt-down, if that were to happen, opportunities would arise. Also assuming that Kustra & Peterson would willingly walk into an agreement where they are constantly "dictated to." You see, they would be the saviors of the conference... usually that puts you in the position to dictate.
Take a clue from BYU...
BSU needs NO PART of the Big East. The only TV contact BE will be able to negotiate is with CBB... seems as though they may go to being a basketball-only conference within a couple of years anyways. Don't be surprised if it happens. Forget the AQ, they won't even have football schools. After 2013 the BCS will likely grant the sixth AQ to a runner-up team from one of the "major" AQ conferences (likely the SEC) and so none of the desperate manuevering by all the mid-major conferences won't matter in the end.
IF BSU wants out of the MWC, they should take a cue from BYU - go independent, and wait for the Big 12/Pac-12 to expand again. Going independent is a scary option, true, but with some effort, it would open up options to scheduling respectable teams (no more playing crappy New Mexico teams or MAC-CUSA cannon fodder every year.
Time for BSU to take charge of its own destiny and not be dictated by sinking second-rate conferences (BE) or a conference that seems content to slip into obscurity (MWC).
And soon as more
And soon as more graduates...BSU will look like a falling star...but falling really, really hard. Wouldn't be good to idea to move laterally to another WAC and MWC and not win a game.
Life is hard as a Vandal
But at least you've got hatred and alcohol to cling to. Enjoy chronic bitterness and cirrhosis, losers!
The name
is lamesched for a reason....
Don't be the butt of all crack jokes...
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Laughable
Have you even seen the recruiting class that Boise has amassed? Next year's team could be composed entirely of freshman and sophomores and they would walk through the Big East. Boise is going to be good for a very very long time.
Still scratching my head...
Who is more?
WHAT is more?
More-Andy Williams song from Mondo Cane I believe...no Google employed.
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Nice education VANDULL fan....
Obviously you are a VANDULL fan, it's Moore not more! Did you attend the U of I? My guess is yes!!!
Your shift key was stuck.
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Just wait it out!
Why do we feel motivated to jump out of the frying pan so quickly? We are in a comfortable spot now. Sure no AQ or millions of dollars, but we are in a conference that allows ALL sports to participate in a regionally reasonable fashion. College football is changing and I for one see this as the demise of the BCS. I think we should trust Craig Thompson's outside the box thinking and be part of the new frontier of college football instead of chasing the status quo that will likely not exist a few years from now.
GO BRONCOS!!!!
Trust Hair Thompson?
Thompson's outside the box thinking isn't the new frontier of College Football, it's an attempt to keep his job. You're delusional if you think alliances between two have-not conferences will catch on anywhwere. You're right, however, that the status quo will change, and that's why it's incredibly important for Boise State to step up to the big kid's table now, even if it is the Big East, it's still AQ. Once you get that designation, it's much harder to lose it. If you've never had it, then odds are when everything happens and the status quo changes, you'll never have it, or have the level that it represents.
Boise State is incredibly lucky to get this shot, they need to jump at it immediately. Luckily, Boise State is led by people who live in reality rather than the 'new frontier' of irrelevance.
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time!
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Confiused on the concept, maybe...
"Status quo" means "the way things are now," and staying in the MWC IS the status quo. Thompson's idea is simply to take two warm bowls of oatmeal and pour them into one big bowl, and tell you it's a feast. But in reality, it's just more of the same. Two non-BCS conferences joined together, warts and all. Double the mediocrity.
Yes, it's an outside-the-box idea, but that doesn't automatically make it good. New Coke was outside the box.
But if you want to keep pushing outside-the-box, OK, here's one for ya- how about we join an East Coast conference, known for its basketball (which we won't be allowed to play), but only for a year or two because that ship is going down in FLAMES. But in the meantime, port-of-call includes BCS auto-bid-ville. You know... paradise. And after the BE crumbles, we'll still be rolling so we can hitch up to whatever else evolves. And if it doesn't crumble, well well... perennial BCS auto-bid.
How's that for outside-the-box?
Well, they already have a Taco Hell...
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
The Big East
Dear As soon as more.... keep your fingers crossed that BSU goes down in flames. Evidently you have not been following the history of BSU teams and quarterbacks....Keep hating soon you will have ulcers. I am sure the BSU Admin will use due diligence when making conference decisions. Boise State !
No big east
Go for the merger of conference USA, MWC, and what is left of the big east.
after that try and get two prime time games on Thursday and two on Friday with espn. The schools wont have to grow and there National exposure will go sky hi.
And we will get the chance to show the big school how a small playoff system would work for big time football.
P.S. would someone make sure Kustra see this meno.
Clinton, go EAGLES
National Exposure
Yes, because the world would just be itching to stay home on a Friday night to see Boise State take on the UAB Blazers.
You guys keep wetting your trousers and watch it fall apart...
as soon as some other conference has a wet f@rt.
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Better than the MWC and WAC
There's been a lot of talk about conference realignment and best option for Boise St. The thing is is that the bottom of the Big East is still miles above those of the MWC and WAC. Thus making the Big East a far better conference than the MWC, even with the hair brained MWC/Conference USA merger. BCS status, money, recognition, big bowls almost every year, not having to be perfect every season and national title game access. Boise St won't get there w/o BCS status so let's not waste our time with that argument. There is no down side to this. People argue about the other programs but like the post above said, when they start pulling like football does, then we'll talk. This is something Boise St has fought for and most fans want. Why all the cold feet now? If it's only because of the AQ crap, with Boise St, SMU, Houston, Air Force and the rest, I can't see them losing it.
Let's put an end
to the "cultural" argument. There isn't a conference out there that Boise does not have cultural differences with. If the conference plans come true, BSU would play only 2 games a year in the eastern time zone, period.
No more "culture" talk, it's silly.
It IS a fungus among us?
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Bite the bullet and go for it
If they need us as much as we think they do, bite the bullet and go with a two sport entry. We just inproved our round ball guy seriously and our facilities. Pass the word that BSU is willing to take the big hit involved in moving (last estimated at 21Mil on another page) if they take our Round ball crew too. After all the way to get better in a hurry is to play in the BE for both teams, our recruiting footprint would go out around the world if we could say "come to BSU and play the big boys on both the court and the field". Someone should be willing to step up and help us with that destination in mind. If we can't get both?, think long and hard cause it's iffy for only one sport.
As the world turns
Hopefully,my last mow of the season.I turn on the computer-and as the world turns back on for another day.Bob -please make up your mind what you want to do Bob- this is getting old Bob- one more thin Bob as the world turns Bob is a soap opera Bob
Huh?
A blind man who mows?
I think its safe to say a new weisberg is now posting. Completely different style of writing pretending too hard to be the same.
Dirka dirka......
weisberg
Submitted by weisberg on Wed, 12/15/2010 - 12:23pm.
iam nerd i grew up here i know you are from calif or some other place iam playin all you geeks you are the number one idiot of all the idiots
Ω tUVW at it again
- - -
or
.... .... ....
Safe to say? Bank it.
Don't need Lord Baltimore for this.
tUVW?
only one at it again is you. vndl and ugly are two different people. I pointed that out to you the other day when they both posted at the same exact time. weisberg? who knows, but at least he's starting to come around and finally talk football. enjoy it, live and let live man, seriously dude, chill out...this stuff is ruining the boards.
Ω posting simultaneoulsy is easy
see?
Proves nothing.
posting simultaneously is easy
see?
Proves nothing.
oh
well in that case...I'm wrong and I apologize
Ω No worries
There are some things that have occurred in the recent past that you don't know about. One of which is this new "weisberg". Did you read JL's post above?
No worries
There are some things that have occurred in the recent past that you don't know about. One of which is this new "weisberg". Did you read JL's post above?
oh
Accepted
Nothing proven.
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
razor, what's your take on BSU going to the Big East?
Ya think it's a good move?
Ω Big East for BSU?
No, I do not think it would be the right move.
Hold for now.
Lord Baltimore is dead and how are the Ravens, Omegaman?
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
As the world turns,
it has left weisberg far, far behind--and it won't be his last mow either! Admittedly, this conference realignment is complex stuff. But for Weisberg? None of the soaps that he watches can relate to what's going on.
I like it
made me laugh we need laughs
All My Children, Days and maybe one-two CBS soaps are IT now.
An entire magazine niche has died now.
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Everybody wants to hue the knurled
It would certainly
broaden our horizon (no pun intended). The deal should be made, especially if Air Force and BYU are on board. The western division would be the clear strength of the conference, and for the first time it would be a conference that we could be proud to be affiliated with. Dr. Kustra, and his team, will take care of the "due diligence" part as far as conference viability.